Sadness can feel so unproductive.
— Phoebe Bridgers
The more specific you are about a very general feeling of loneliness is actually how you connect with people.
I don’t want to get all self-help on everyone. But I definitely think there was a period in my life where I thought I would feel the same way, forever. And every day felt like ‘Groundhog Day,’ where I was super, super depressed.
Once in a blue moon I’ll have some sort of concept song or it will be about a bunch of different things, but yeah, it’s all from experiences.
I'm marrying everybody I fall in love with.
When I’m writing, I try to think about what would make a song better before worrying about personal opinions.
I was actually with Conor Oberst on tour, and we were walking down the street getting a coffee. I walked into a random hipster-y coffee shop and I heard my own song, and I was so stoked.
If you're saying you're epically depressed in a song, you better be able to back it up. You better be able to talk about it in a smart way with someone who comes up to you after a show and is looking for help.
There are only couple songs that you can just hear and it’ll put you in a great mood.
I love Sylvan Esso. I want to bring in more electronic elements, but also some analogue stuff. Stuff like ‘70s drum machines really fascinates me.
I feel like 'Pitchfork' has a style, and you always know what they’re gonna say and what they’re gonna pick apart.
I’ve never really been afraid of how people were going to define me, as long as I didn’t write some cheaper song because people like that I’m depressed.
I’m not afraid to have a really weird idea or, you know, take a really bad guitar solo.
My form of rebellion was starting to play guitar. I was 13. The first song I played was 'Lovesick Blues' by Hank Williams.
I think the longform email is exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.
I wanted to talk about how stupid music is. I wanted to talk about how awesome music is, and how depressing it is, and why we all make music if it doesn’t last forever.
Doing stuff on my own terms and making a record without being signed to a label - I credit that all to my commercial work.
I’m obsessed with Elliott Smith, which is very common knowledge.
There is nothing more useless than an album that you don't feel strongly about, out in the world.
I didn’t go to college and I worked so I could play music. That was my goal.
You look at Taylor Swift, and every ‘i’ is dotted, every story is finished.
All the things people hate about touring, I’m excited for, because I’ve never done it before. I’m excited to see places I’ve never seen and be in the van and see if I get carsick while reading.
I have this thing in the back of my brain that dares me to think of the most disturbing thing.
I can’t really remember my first headline show.
Whenever I write songs, it's my outlet for a certain feeling. I just don't as often feel compelled to write when I'm not really sad about something, or wanting to sort through something dark.
‘Friday I’m in Love’ sounds like the best possible summer song.
I think it’s easier for me to write from experience.
Joshua Kirk, the YouTube kid with the glasses who looks directly into the camera - I really love his album reviews. He’s been doing it for years.
I think the main thing which boygenius and I talk about ad nauseum, is that I feel like I just apologise for myself less.
The Replacements don't sound like The Replacements half the time!
None of my family are musicians, but there was a lot of classic rock and country going on. I always wanted to sing. As soon as I expressed an interest my mom was super supportive of me.
I feel like in pop music and even indie music, there’s this weird thing where women have been pitted against each other.
Sometimes I’m so exhausted and I don’t really want to play.
A lot of my close friends are musicians and are consumed by the idea of death; their heads are like a torture chamber. I’m not like that - I don’t have death anxiety and I don’t think about it all the time.
Sometimes I just need somebody to tell me a bunch of ideas I don't like, so that I can figure out what it is I actually want.
Because I write what I feel the most heavy about. So if there is one day of the week when I feel completely crushed by existential dread, I’ll end up writing about it, not the great day I had at the park with my friends. I hope it resonates with people - and it does, with some.
You know, I have been insanely lucky.
I love women in suits.
I love going on walks and talking to people.
I don’t get starstruck by musicians anymore, but podcasts? I’m a total podcast groupie.
I did a CBS thing when I was a teenager that was a 'Music Minute' or something.
People still kind of think of me as like a folk artist, but on the first record, I truly was deferring to other people to produce me.
I actually have a kind of fantasy about doing a covers album in general. My music taste is so eclectic, that I think it would be cool to put it through the funnel of my arrangements.
People are realising that vulnerability isn’t a weakness, and the rise of mental health-related humour is making vulnerability feel like a strength.
Twitter is an extension of every dumb thought I have, firing it off - Instagram is a little more methodical.
I was planning to go into the studio in the summer of 2018, and then I started two bands!
For every single person who’s struggled with depression, there’s this weird part of your brain that tells you you’re the only person who’s ever felt like that, even if you know for a fact it’s not true.
When I first picked up an instrument, nothing really happened. I played piano when I was a little kid. I hated it so much, I actually don’t play piano now.
We’re all guilty of slacktivism, or of feeling like a savior for taking two seconds of your day to think about someone else.
Often people have to wake me up from a nap to tell me to go on stage.
